Police investigate gunshots outside VP Biden’s Delaware home

Law enforcement officials have boosted security at the Delaware home of Vice-President Joe Biden after several gunshots rang out from a vehicle speeding by the property over the weekend. The vice-president and his wife were not at their Wilmington home on Saturday night when the shots were fired and there were no reports of injuries, authorities said on Sunday.

Secret Service personnel at the Greenville, Del., residence heard shots at about 8:25 p.m. and saw a vehicle drive past at a high rate of speed, fleeing the scene, said agency spokesman Robert Hoback. Roughly 30 minutes later, a vehicle tried to pass a New Castle County police officer securing the outer perimeter of the vice president’s residence, which resulted in the driver being arrested and charged with resisting arrest, authorities said. But it was really strange, to hear those kinds of shots next to the vice-president’s house.” Biden’s home is nestled in a heavily wooded neighbourhood of stately stone-and-brick homes along a curving two-lane road that winds through rolling hills. Biden’s home is not visible from the road, but a gatehouse cottage, occupied by the Secret Service, sits just yards from the main road, in front of a driveway blocked off by security vehicles.

The shooting occurred just days after the Delaware national guard increased security at its air base near Wilmington after several incidents in which vehicles approached the main gate before turning around. The national guard base is part of a dual-use facility that includes New Castle airport and which has been used by Biden when he travels to Delaware aboard Air Force Two.

The Bidens spend many weekends at their Delaware home, and, while he served in the Senate, Biden frequently made a daily commute from Delaware to Washington by train.